bioinnovel Chapter 247 Old Friend!
Chapter 247 Old Friend!
Nie Qingcheng leaned back in her chair, her eyelids already heavy.
The light and shadow of the coral reefs moved slowly on the inner wall of the cockpit, fragmented blue, like a kaleidoscope hitting the bottom of the water.
Her breathing became even again.
Zhang Yan did not move.
He wrapped one arm around her waist, and tapped the edge of the control panel twice with the thumb of his other hand.
The green triangle marker is still on the sonic interface.
The distance was reduced from 4.2 kilometers to 3.8 kilometers.
The other party is slowly approaching at a speed of six knots.
Not urgent.
Zhang Yan increased the sonar gain by two levels.
The propeller noise spectrum characteristics are automatically analyzed by the system—dual-shaft variable-pitch propeller, diesel engine as the main power source, and electric auxiliary propulsion.
The noise fingerprint matched the characteristics of the Japan Coast Guard's "Mizuho" class patrol vessel in the database by 98.6%.
The displacement is approximately 3100 tons.
The main gun has a caliber of 40 mm.
The crew consists of approximately 40 people.
Zhang Yan glanced at the data.
Then it was turned off.
No need.
The firepower of the "Mizuho" class is roughly equivalent to spraying a tank with a water gun for the Sea Devourer Shark.
He glanced down at Nie Qingcheng.
I'm sleeping very soundly.
Her lips were slightly pouting, and her fingers were still gripping the hem of his T-shirt tightly.
Like a child clutching a safety blanket.
Zhang Yan glanced at the time on his watch.
She slept for twenty-eight minutes.
Let her sleep for another ten minutes.
……
Ten minutes later.
The distance marked by the green triangle has been shortened to 2.1 kilometers.
It's basically within sight—if it's on the water.
Zhang Yan gently patted Nie Qingcheng's shoulder.
"Wake up."
Nie Qingcheng's eyelashes trembled slightly.
He's not awake.
Zhang Yan patted it again.
"We have guests."
This time she woke up.
My eyes were still a little blurry when I opened them, and it took my pupils two seconds to focus.
Then she realized where she was.
The cockpit of the mechanical shark.
seabed.
He was in Zhang Yan's arms.
"...How long did I sleep?"
Thirty-eight minutes.
Nie Qingcheng straightened up, rubbed the corner of her eye, her hair was a little messy, and a few strands of hair stuck to her cheek.
She saw the flashing green triangle on the sonic screen.
Distance: 1.9 km.
"That's the one?"
"That's the one."
Nie Qingcheng tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
The languor of just waking up hadn't completely faded, but his eyes had already turned cold.
"How do you plan to greet them?"
Zhang Yan thought for a second.
"Be gentle."
"How gentle?"
"The kind that won't sink."
Nie Qingcheng's lips curved slightly.
"Okay, I'll keep an eye on it."
She returned to the passenger seat, fastened her seatbelt, crossed her legs, and leaned back in her seat.
His posture was like watching a play from a private box.
Zhang Yan increased the thruster power to 40%.
The ravenous shark began to accelerate.
Direction: Northwest by North.
That patrol boat on the water, oblivious to its fate.
……
On the sea.
The Mizuho-class patrol vessel is cruising at a low speed of six knots.
The bow was flying the flag of a Southeast Asian country, but the antenna array on the mast and the equipment windows on the sides of the ship did not look like a civilian research vessel at all.
Inside the command center on the top floor.
The captain stood in front of the chart table, his hands resting on the surface, staring at the sonar screen in front of him.
He is forty-seven years old this year.
They operated in this sea area for twelve years.
Over the past twelve years, he has confirmed one thing—while China's maritime law enforcement capabilities have been growing, they are far from being powerful enough to frighten him.
At least in this gray area, he can move freely.
But a week ago...
After that incident.
Everything has changed.
Three main battleships of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force—two Akizuki-class destroyers and one Maya-class cruiser—sank simultaneously in this area.
There was no warning.
There were no radar signals from enemy ships.
There are no missiles.
It lacks the acoustic characteristics of a torpedo.
It simply disappeared.
The wreckage fragments recovered last showed signs of high-energy, high-frequency cutting on the bottom of the ship.
tidy.
smooth.
Like it was cut open with a scalpel.
Watanabe Kazuki had seen that top-secret report.
One word in the report was circled in red.
"Unidentified underwater mechanical object."
The accompanying photo was blurry—captured by the ship's onboard camera within thirty seconds of the incident.
A six-meter-long, black, streamlined object leaped out of the water and remained in the sunlight for less than a second.
Its outline resembles a shark.
A metallic, black shark.
Watanabe Kazuki stared at that photo for a full hour.
Then I had a nightmare.
In his dream, the shark passed right under his boat.
He heard the sound of the keel breaking.
Since.
Every time we go out to sea.
He would subconsciously glance at the sonar screen a few more times.
"captain."
The voice announcer on duty turned his head.
"There was contact underwater."
Watanabe Kazuki's spine instantly straightened.
"position?"
"220 direction, 1500 meters away. The target is accelerating towards you."
"speed?"
"...Thirty-two sections."
Watanabe Kazuki's fingers dug into the edge of the chart table.
A 32-knot underwater speed.
The world's fastest nuclear submarine can only run at 35 knots.
Moreover—there is no propeller noise.
"No acoustic signature!" The sonar operator's voice began to tremble. "It's not a submarine! The signal source is extremely small—streamlined—estimated to be about six meters long—"
six meters.
streamline.
There is no propeller.
The blood on Watanabe Kazuki's face disappeared in an instant.
He looked up at the window.
The sea was calm.
Sunlight shattered into gold flakes on the crests of the waves.
There is nothing to be seen.
But he knew.
That thing is underwater.
It's flying towards him.
"Full speed..." His lips moved slightly.
No sound came out.
He swallowed.
"Full speed evacuation! Heading 040!"
The telegraph bells in the engine room rang incessantly.
The diesel engine of the "Wakasa" roared to life.
The propeller churned up a white spray.
The patrol boat began to turn cumbersomely.
too slow.
With a displacement of 3,100 tons, it takes at least four minutes to go from a standstill to full speed.
The soprano's voice was already calling out.
"Target acceleration—35 knots—40 knots—800 meters away—"
"Six hundred meters—"
"—Target vanished!"
It's quiet now.
On the sonar screen, the light spot disappeared.
It's as if it never existed.
No one spoke in the command room.
Everyone can hear their own heartbeat.
Bump, bump, bump.
then.
"Thump."
A very soft, metallic clang.
It came from the bottom of the ship.
Watanabe Kazuki's knees buckled.
The muffled thud wasn't loud.
It sounded like someone tapped the table lightly with their knuckles.
But it came up from the bottom of the ship.
It passed through the entire hull structure of three thousand tons of steel.
It was clearly transmitted to the ears of everyone in the command room.
The soprano's fingers froze on the keyboard.
The first mate's coffee cup slipped from his hand, knocked to the floor, and spilled coffee all over his trousers.
No one looked down.
Watanabe Kazuki's hands, gripping the edge of the chart table, were already turning white.
The bones of the knuckles protrude from the skin.
"Where...where is the sound?" His voice was dry and cracked.
"It's there—" The soprano looked up at him.
His face was paler than a dead person's.
"—Straight below. Zero distance. Right under our ship."
Quiet.
Only the diesel engines roared in the distance, and the propellers churned the water frantically.
But no one noticed that the ship was moving.
Three thousand one hundred tons of steel.
At this moment, I am like a leaf.
Watanabe Kazuki closed his eyes.
The photo from that top-secret report flashed through his mind.
Six meters, black, streamlined.
The forty-meter-long gash that appeared when the keel of the Maya-class cruiser was cut open.
It's so neat it looks like it was laser-carved.
And the thickness of this ship's armor—
Only one-third of the Maya level.